1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the disposal of drugs. Specifically, this invention relates to methods, systems and apparatuses for the collection of excess, unwanted, tainted, recalled or expired drugs and rendering them in an unusable and non-retrievable form.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion within this section.
Accepted and often employed methods of drug disposal include depositing drugs in the garbage or flushing them in the toilet or sink. There is growing concern that these methods of disposal can have undesired environmental effects. Indeed, recent studies have shown the presence of pharmaceutical compounds in the water supplies. Other methods of disposal include incineration and chemical digestions. Both of these methods are undesirable due to environmental and safety concerns. In particular, in the case of incineration, harmful agents can be released into the atmosphere as a result of burning the drug or its packaging. With chemical digestion, a chemical that is capable of dissolving a drug may be capable of causing harm to a human handler. Furthermore, within patient care centers such as, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and specialty procedure centers, drugs are frequently supplied for intravenous use. These drugs are often supplied in standard doses (i.e. the dose is not patient specific), which are frequently more than needed for a particular patient. This leads to unused drugs which have to be destroyed and rendered non-retrievable. Since intravenous drugs are in contact with a patient's intravenous line, they are considered contaminated and potentially represent a biohazard. So, in addition to the environmental issues, intravenous drugs also pose potential infectious risk to patients and clinical staff.
Some organizations which utilize, store and/or collect relatively large amounts of drugs, such as patient care facilities, pharmacies and law enforcement agencies, employ the services of a reverse distributor to dispose of drugs. A reverse distributor is an entity that is authorized by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to acquire controlled substances from DEA registrants in order to return them to a manufacturer or manufacturer's agent or for processing for disposal. Since the reverse distributor is a separate entity and apart from the DEA registrant, the transfer of the controlled substances necessitates that additional individuals handle the drugs, which incurs additional costs for disposal and increases the chance of drug diversion for illicit purposes. Furthermore, because drug disposal options are limited for individuals of the general public, prescription and over-the-counter drugs are often accumulate in individuals' medicine cabinets. This creates an opportunity for diversion for illicit purposes by teenagers or guests and accidental ingestion or overdose by young children.
It is therefore desirable to develop methods, apparatuses and systems with the ability to render drugs irretrievable and suitable for non-regulated waste disposal at the point of collection that poses no additional risk to the staff at the collection site. In addition, it would be advantageous for such methods, apparatuses and systems to neutralize any possible infectious agents and/or be employed without having to rely on the services of an outside party such as a reverse distributor.